1. Technical Field
This invention relates to a hydrogen generator for efficiently supplying hydrogen to a device requiring hydrogen, such as a fuel cell or a hydrogen engine, or a hydrogen storage container.
2. Background Art
As energy problems and environmental problems have attracted increasing attention in recent years, expectations are growing that hydrogen, which is a fuel other than a fossil fuel, will serve as a clean-emission fuel. However, hydrogen poses problems in all aspects, such as production, storage, transportation, and technologies for utilization, and the development of a technique for handling it is an urgent task.
As a power generator utilizing hydrogen, a fuel cell and an internal combustion engine (hereinafter referred to as a hydrogen engine) are named. These power generators are targeted for all business categories, including district-distributed power supplies, buildings, households, automobiles, and portable instruments. In any such cases, a predetermined amount of hydrogen needs to be supplied promptly. The automobiles and portable instruments, in particular, need a space for installation of a power generator, and require efficient supply of generated power to a device which consumes electric power. Thus, hydrogen supply instruments and hydrogen generation materials are required to have a high hydrogen storage density, and to be capable of generating hydrogen with low energy.
A method of hydrolyzing a complex hydride, called a chemical hydride, has so far been known as a method for obtaining hydrogen with low energy. For example, there have been known a method which comprises dissolving lithium borohydride, sodium borohydride, lithium aluminum hydride, or sodium aluminum hydride, any of which is a type of complex hydride, in an aqueous alkaline solution, and supplying the resulting aqueous solution to a precious metal catalyst for their contact, thereby causing a hydrogen generation reaction; and a method by which water or alcohol is supplied to a complex hydride to cause a hydrogen generation reaction (see, for example, Patent Document 1).
In this case, the reactants of the hydrogen generation reaction are the complex hydride and water, and the catalyst has the effect of an accelerator for accelerating the hydrogen generation reaction.
[Patent Document 1]
Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2003-206101 (pages 4 to 6, FIG. 1)